Statement about BYU’s Cancellation of the JMP 2026 Pre-Conference Training
Statement about BYU’s Cancellation of the JMP 2026 Pre-Conference Training
Last year, the Journal of Mormon Polygamy Conference included a pre-conference training session on documents at the University of Utah’s Special Collections. It was well received by all who attended. This year, the conference organizers decided to continue the tradition, and reached out to BYU’s Special Collections about the possibility of holding a session there. Gordon Daines, Research and Instruction Services archivist at BYU’s Special Collections, kindly responded, asking for information about our group and what we wanted to accomplish. After being fully informed about the Journal of Mormon Polygamy and its conference, he set up a session for us on Friday, March 20 for a small group of 30 people, saying, “I would be happy to provide an introduction to Special Collections for your group as well as provide them with an opportunity to view some selected materials.” This exchange took place on November 18-21, 2025. The Journal of Mormon Polygamy collected fees of $20.00 per participant to reserve a space at the training session and to ensure the spots would go to those who were committed to attend.
On February 24, 2026, Gordon Daines confirmed the session in an email he wrote, stating, “I’m looking forward to meeting with your group next month. Attached is the short lesson plan with a list of materials that I’ve identified for your group to look at.” At this point, the session had been completely full for some time. We appreciated the work that he had put into the session and his congeniality.
On March 16, 2026, four days before the conference, after business hours, at 5:36 pm, an email was sent from Rick Anderson of the BYU Library Administrative Offices informing the Journal that BYU could not provide training for our preconference workshop, “nor can we provide space for your group to meet in the BYU Library.” He further said that “if we had known that you were going to charge a registration fee for the workshop we would have pulled the plug much earlier.”
Michelle Stone responded for the Journal, offering to refund the fee for the workshop, since we had not been notified this would be an issue. She noted that this was “an easily resolved concern” and hoped to continue with our plans.
Without giving any further reason for the withdrawal, Rick Anderson replied that “We are unable to go forward with the training session in our library,“ and firmly stated, “the session is canceled.”
We would like those who have registered for our conference to know how very sorry we are that we must cancel the preconference session at BYU and refund their fee. We do not know why Rick Anderson made the decision to cancel the session, or if anyone else was involved in this decision. We do not fully understand his statement that the library cannot “provide space for your group to meet in the BYU Library.” We do not have any further information regarding these actions, and can only suggest that any questions or requests for clarification be directed to one or all of the following:
Rick Anderson, University Librarian, [email protected]
Allen Arnoldsen, Library Controller, [email protected]
Shane Reese, BYU President, [email protected]
Because of the nature of these events, we feel it is important to disclose all the correspondence relating to the issue.
From: Michelle Stone
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2025 9:43 AM
To: Gordon Daines
Subject: Special Collections Classroom and Training Request
Hello Gordon,
I am contacting you to schedule a class about your collection for a history conference this coming March. We would love to have either one or two training sessions (depending on capacity) on the afternoon of Friday, March 20th. I am hoping you have that day open, and I would love to talk to you about our focus and what would be most interesting to our attendees.
I will look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you,
Michelle Stone
On Tue, Nov 18, 2025 at 10:15 AM Gordon Daines wrote:
Michelle,
Thank you for contacting me about your interest in having a presentation for your group on Friday March 20, 2026. I need a little more information in order to determine if we can meet your request:
What is the name of the conference? Who is the sponsor or sponsoring organization?
What type of training session(s) are you hoping to have?
How long are you hoping the training session(s) will be?
Are there particular topics you would like covered?
How many participants do you anticipate?
I look forward to receiving your responses and to engaging in further dialogue.
Gordon
From: Michelle Stone
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2025 12:33 PM
To: Gordon Daines
Subject: Re: Special Collections Classroom and Training Request
Hi Gordon,
Thank you for getting back to me. I apologize for the late reply.
This is for the Journal of Mormon Polygamy Conference, co-sponsored by the UVU History Department and the Journal of Mormon Polygamy.
We would love you to talk about archives and your holdings---how people can access them, the scope of your collection, etc. (I was there with Rebekah Clark's UVU women's history class on September 10, and I loved your presentation.)
I was thinking of the session going around 50 minutes, including both your presentation and time for the attendees to examine the sources you choose. We are open to suggestions if you have a different idea.
I know our attendees will be very interested in documents relevant to early church history, and particularly regarding polygamy. (I was hoping you may be able to include William Clayton documents and journals, a particular letter writing by Helen Mar Kimball Whitney that is on stationery relevant to Nauvoo polygamy, Eliza Snow letters or documents, and anything else relevant to the people who practiced polygamy.)
We are expecting a large crowd at our full conference, but this is intended to be a pre-conference training that people need to sign up for. If you can let us know your capacity, we will cap it at that.
Thank you! Our team is excited about this training.
Warmly,
Michelle Stone
On Fri, Nov 21, 2025, 12:27 PM Gordon Daines wrote:
Michelle,
Thank you for providing this information. I would be happy to provide an introduction to Special Collections for your group as well as provide them with an opportunity to view some selected materials (including some of the things that you’ve highlighted below). I’ll put together a short lesson plan as we get closer to the event. A 50-minute session seems reasonable to me. The Special Collections classroom can seat 30 people for the type of presentation/interaction that you are interested in having. I’ve reserved the classroom from 1:30-3:00 pm which includes set up time for me. Let me know if you have any questions.
Gordon
From: Michelle Stone
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2025 1:19 PM
To: Gordon Daines
Cc: Dainan Skeem
Subject: Re: Special Collections Classroom and Training Request
Wonderful! Thank you so much.
We will look forward to it!
Date: Tue, Feb 24, 2026, 4:38 PM
Subject: RE: Special Collections Classroom and Training Request
To: Michelle Stone
Cc: Dainan Skeem
Michelle,
I’m looking forward to meeting with your group next month. Attached is the short lesson plan with a list of materials that I’ve identified for your group to look at. If there are specific items that you’d like to look at that you know are in our holdings, please let me know the title and, if possible, the call number for the item(s). Let me know if you have any questions or if you would like to adjust anything on the list.
Gordon
From: Michelle Stone
Date: Tue, Feb 24, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Subject: Re: Special Collections Classroom and Training Request
To: Gordon Daines
This looks wonderful! We are so looking forward to your presentation!
Thank you for taking so much time and care to put this all together. This will be a memorable experience for the attendees.
Sincerely,
Michelle
Cancelling the training session in our Special Collections department this Friday
From: Rick Anderson
Date: Mon, Mar 16, 2026 at 5:36 PM
Dear Michelle, I am writing regretfully to inform you that we will not be able to provide training for your preconference workshop this Friday, nor can we provide space for your group to meet in the BYU Library. I realize that the timing of this decision puts you in an awkward position, particularly as you have collected money from conference delegates who intended to attend the workshop. (For what it’s worth, if we had known that you were going to charge a registration fee for the workshop we would have pulled the plug much earlier.) I apologize for the timing.
Best wishes, Rick Anderson
-- Rick Anderson
University Librarian
Brigham Young University (801) 422-4301
[email protected]
From: Michelle Stone
To: Rick Anderson
Date: Mon, Mar 16, 2026 at 5:51 PM
Hi Rick, Thank you for the email. We had no idea that charging a nominal reservation fee would be a problem for the library. I appreciate you letting me know. We are in the process of refunding the small charge to each attendee. I am glad to know it is an easily resolved concern since cancelling at this point would be extremely unprofessional. Thank you for the email. We are looking forward to the training.
Sincerely, Michelle Stone
From: Rick Anderson
To: Michelle Stone
Date: Mon, Mar 16, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Hi, Michelle —
Sorry, I wasn’t sufficiently clear. We are unable to go forward with the training session in our library. I apologize that we have to cancel with such short notice, but I’m writing to let you know that the session is canceled.
Best, Rick
Rick Anderson
University Librarian
Brigham Young University (801) 422-4301
[email protected]
